Back after a week off to find what? Not a trace of the peace and goodwill to all men normally associated with this time of year.

Instead the Coventry saga rumbles on and some of the rumblings are not liked by near neighbours Birmingham & Solihull.

There are those at Sharmans Cross Road who detect that which has been deemed good enough for the goose is not being applied to the gander following an email from RFU HQ informing clubs they are not allowed to approach any Coventry players.

That edict somewhat sticks in the goose’s craw given the fact Russell Earnshaw had 13 players poached when his club ran into financial trouble.

And just to add insult to injury the RFU also sanctioned an advance of January’s central funding – a request they turned down when Bees made it a few months ago.

Clearly Twickenham operates an Orwellian approach to crisis management with some animals being more equal than others.

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Speaking of Bees, the cancellation of last weekend’s league match at Rotherham presents them with some scheduling difficulties with no breaks built into the Championship programme.

At least they’ve built some slack into the fixtures list – it’s called the British and Irish Cup.

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There’s no slack in Matt Jones’ schedule now, though. The glassy, sorry classy, Worcester fly half has returned from eight months on the sideline with a foot problem.

During that time he has been match summariser for the local BBC radio station, a role he admits he has relished.

But team-mate Marcel Garvey’s garrulous ways have not been so warmly received.

The Worcester wing has been reprimanded by director of rugby Mike Ruddock for revealing details of his team selection on social networking site Twitter.

Finally I’d like to wish all of you a happy new year and a prosperous 2010.